Woman killed in crossfire, Uttarakhand police files murder case against UP cops

Kashipur, Oct 13 (IANS) The wife of the head of Jaspur block was shot dead in firing during the raid conducted by the UP police in Bharatpur village in Kunda police station area, Udham Singh Nagar, late on Wednesday evening.

Angered by the death, about 400 villagers blocked the highway in front of the police station. Heavy reinforcements reached the spot. The Kashipur police has registered a murder case against the UP police on the complaint of the block head.

There was a furore in the Udham Singh Nagar police department as soon as the incident came to light.

The police team from Moradabad in UP conducted the raid without informing the Uttarakhand police and were not in uniform. We are probing why the Moradabad police took this action, said DIG Nilesh Anand Bharne of Kumaon division, adding that a case of murder and conspiracy has been registered. The injured UP policemen escaped from our custody when they were admitted to LD Bhatt hospital and we are investigating the matter.

There is also a complaint that when an attempt was made to stop the UP police at Surya Chowki, they broke the barricade and fled. The DIG said that the UP police has been questioned over their lack of communication.

Local MLA Arvind Pandey also reached the spot after getting information about the incident. He said that the Uttarakhand police started investigation immediately. We have full faith in our police. The block chief has shown a lot of tolerance. A bigger tragedy could have occurred since the villagers were angry.

We have spoken to the Chief Minister and are confident that the police will get to the bottom of this incident and justice will be done, added Pandey.

A contradiction has also come to light in the statements of Udham Singh Nagar SSP and the Kumaon DIG. SSP Manjunath TC said that they had received information from the Moradabad police about the raid to arrest the wanted criminal. But there was a clash with the villagers and both sides opened fire. When we arrived, we saw that a woman had been shot dead. Three Moradabad police officers were injured. He added that this was a sensitive matter and the victim's family has registered a complaint.

Further investigation will not be based on statements alone but on facts. Forensic and CCTV evidence will be used for this, he said.